Container for needles and like small articles



J. SCHNEIDER 3,227,265

CONTAINER FOR NEEDLES AND LIKE SMALL ARTICLES Jan. 4, 1966 Filed March 18, 1964 AJW/////1 V INVENTOR. Joseph Schneider Sparrow and Sparrow ATTORNEYS therein.

United States PatentO 3,227,265 CONTAINER FOR NEEDLES AND LIKE SMALL ARTICLES Joseph Schneider, Eynatten, Belgium, assignor to Mannfacture Belge dAiguiiles, .Eupen, Belgium, :1 corporation of Belgium Filed Mar. 18, 1964, Ser. No. 352,745

Claims priority, application Germany, Sept. 24, 1963,

'13 Claims. (Cl. 206-17) This invention relates to packaging containers in general, and to containers for small precision articles, such as sewing machine needles, small drills or the like, which are sensitive to damage. The invention consists in such novel features, construction, arrangements and combinations of parts as may be shown and described in connection with the device herein disclosed by way of example only and as illustrative of a preferred embodiment.

The small receptacle or container for sewing needles, particularly for high-precision sewing machine needles, usually consists of a fiat body made either of wood or plastic, having a plurality of elongated grooves into which the needles or like articles are more or less loosely inserted. Obviously these tools. are not firmly held iri place in these containers or boxes and it cannot be avoided that they rattle therein. There is always a danger that the needles or the like may inadvertentlydrop out of their receptacles when the container or box is opened, and thus may be damaged so that they cannot be used in the high-speed sewing machines. The presently known boxes for such small tools have a further disadvantage in that it is inconvenient to take one of these relatively small articles out of the box which issmall in size corresponding to the nature of its contents.

tained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.

It is an object of this invention to provide a receptacieor holder in which sewing machine needles or similar small high-precision tools are held and wedged firmly It is a further object of this invention to provide receptacle means for sewing machine needles or like small articles, which are made .of relatively flexible and/ or resilient plastic material forholding saidarticles firmly under slight pressure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a receptacle for a plurality of sewing machine needles or the like, which easily permits withdrawal of said needles, one at a time, without affecting or disturbing protective holding of the rest of the needles.

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names for convenience, but such names are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit. Like reference characters denote like parts in the figures of the drawing, in which:

F161 is a view of container or body, partly broken away, showing therein the inserted receptacle for holding the needles, according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a section of the container and receptacle, taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the container and receptacle, partly opened; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the open container.

Referring now in more detail to the drawing illustrating by way of example only a preferred embodiment by which the invention may be realized, there is shown a receptacle 11 for sewing machine needles 12 or like small articles, which has a back wall 13 and a plurality of elongated vertical grooves 14. The height of the receptacle is substantially shorter than the said needles, so that the upper portion of same protrudes over the said receptacle 11. A reinforcing bar 15 is transversely arranged in the upper half of the receptacle, which bar is pierced by holes 16 in such manner that each one of the holes 16 is coaxial with one of the vertical grooves 14. The uppermost part 17 of the walls of each one of the vertical grooves 14 is slightly cone-shaped. The receptacle 11 has a solid bottom bar 18 on which two small pins 1d, 19' are arranged.

Receptacle 11 is preferably made of relatively flexible and/or-resilient plastic material. A box-like container 29, made of a relatively harder, preferably transparent plastic material, encloses receptacle 11. Container 20 consists primarily of two shells 21, 22 which are substantially longer than the receptacle, and a foot bar 23 to which the shellsZl, 22 are attached by means of flexible hinges. Two holes 24, 25 are provided in the foot bar 23 into which the small pins 19, '19 snugly fit. The two shells 21, 22 have small rims 26, 27, and they are made in such manner that shell 22 with the rims 27 thereof fit snugly into shell 21 and into the rims 26 of the latter, so that a properly fitting container for the ireceptacle 11 is provided when the two shells are closed.

Projections or extensions 28, 29 are arranged on top of Yet another object of the present invention is to pro vide a box-like structure enclosing the said receptacle for the sewing machine needles, the receptacle being secured in the said structure in such manner that it cannot drop out when the box is opened.

A further object of the present invention is to provide as an article of manufacture a plastic needle box which.

can be mass-produced economically and which is very practical, eiiicient and easy to handle.

Various further and more specific purposes, features and advantages will clearly appear from the detailed de scription given below taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which forms part of the specification and illustrates merely by way of example one embodiment of the device of the invention. In the following description and in the claims, parts will be identified by specific the shells 21, 22, respectively, for conveniently opening the case or container 2% with, for example, the fingers of a hand. Projections 28, 29 are dove-tail shaped for fitting in slots of suitable display racks for sale (not shown in the drawing).

Obviously a sewing machine needle or alike small highprecision tool may be firmly held in the receptacles grooves because a part of the shank thereof is slightly wedged in the substantially cone-shaped or restricted upper part of the vertical groove, whereas the slim shaft part of the needle is inserted into the holes 15 of the reinforcing bar 15, Thus, the needle cannot drop out inadvertently when the container is opened. Since the container or case 20 is substantially longer than the receptacle within it, and the needles, in turn,1onger than the height of the receptacle, the needles can be taken out easily and conveniently The two box-shaped shells 21, 22 of the container or case 20 do not obstruct accessibility.

While the invention has been described and illustrated with respect to a certain preferred example which gives satisfactoy results, it will be understood by those skilled in theart after understanding the principle of the invention,

that various other changes and modifications may be or the like small, high-precision tools, said receptacle having a back wall, a plurality of parallelly-arranged elongated grooves, and a box-shaped container surrounding said receptacle; a bottom bar on said receptacle, said bottom bar being transversely arranged of said grooves, an intermediate reinforcing bar on said receptacle, said intermediate bar transversely arranged of said grooves, said intermediate bar having holes coaxial with each one of said elongated grooves, at least two pins protruding from said bottom bar, a foot bar on said container, said foot bar having at least two holes for receiving said pins, two shells on said foot bar, said shells having rims, said shells having flexible transitions flexibly connected with said foot bar, said shells fitting with said rims into one another, forming said box-shaped container surrounding said receptacle, and a dove-tail shaped handle on top of each one of said shells.

2. The combination with an open receptacle for sewing machine needles or the like small high-precision tools, said receptacle having a back wall and a plurality of parallelly-arranged elongated grooves, of a container surrounding said receptacle, comprising a solid bottom bar on said receptacle, said bottom oar tranversely arranged of said grooves, an intermediate reinforcing bar on said receptacle, said intermediate bar transversely arranged of said grooves, said intermediate bar having holes coaxial with each one of said elongated grooves, at least two pins protruding from said bottom bar, a foot bar on said container, said foot bar having at least two holes for receiving said pins, two shells on said foot bar, said shells having flexible transitions flexibly connected with said foot bar, said shells having rims, said shells fitting with said rims into one another, forming said box-shaped container surrounding said receptacle and a dove-tail shaped handle on top of each one of said shells.

3. An open receptacle for sewing machine needles or the like small high-precision tools according to claim 1, said receptacle consisting of a resilient plastic material and said shells consisting of relatively hard, transparent plastic material.

4. An open receptacle for sewing machine needles or the like small high-precision tools according to claim 3, and each one of said plurality of said elongated grooves having slightly cone-shaped uppermost wall parts.

5. The combination with an open receptacle for sewing machine needles or the like small high-precision tools, of a box-shaped container surrounding said receptacle, according to claim 2, and said box-shaped container being substantially longer than said receptacle.

6. An open receptacle for sewing machine needles or the like small high-precision tools according to claim 4, and said receptacle being less in height than the length of said sewing machine needles or the like tools.

7. A container for needles and like small articles comprising an open receptacle having a back wall, a plurality of parallelly-arranged elongated grooves, and a substantially box-shaped case surrounding said receptacle; said receptacle having a bottom, a bottom bar transversely arranged of said grooves, an intermediate reinforcing bar transversely arranged of said grooves, said intermediate bar having holes coaxial with said grooves, respectively, and at least one projection protruding from said bottom bar; said case having a foot bar, having a hole for receiving said projection, and two box-shaped shells flexibly connected with said foot bar.

8. A container according to claim 7, each of said grooves having a restricted wedge-shaped upper portion.

9. A container according to claim 8, said shells having side flanges fitting into one another.

10. A container according to claim 7, said shells having side flanges fitting into one another.

11. A container according to claim 8, said receptacle consisting of resilient plastic material and said case consisting of relatively hard plastic material.

12. A container according to claim 8, said case being longer than said receptacle.

13. A container according to claim 7, said receptacle being less in height than the length of said needles or like small articles.

References Cited by the Examiner UNiTED STATES PATENTS 1,183,421 5/1916 Allen 260-41 1,206,404 11/1916 Bens 206-41 2,593,042 4/ 1952 Lynskey 211-60 2,771,990 11/1956 Buschkamper 206-17 2,817,434 12/ 1957 Schmetz et al. 206-66 3,018,876 1/1962 Huot 206-17 FOREIGN PATENTS 8,557 1914 Great Britain. 605,222 7/ 1948 Great Britain.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

W. T. DIXSON, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN AN OPEN RECEPTACLE FOR SEWING MACHINE NEEDLES OR THE LIKE SMALL, HIGH-PRECISION TOOLS, SAID RECEPTACLE HAVING A BACK WALL, A PLURALITY OF PARALLELY-ARRANGED ELONGATED GROOVES, AND A BOX-SHAPED CONTAINER SURROUNDING SAID RECEPTACLE; A BOTTOM BAR ON SAID RECEPTACLE, SAID BOTTOM BAR BEING TRANSVERSELY ARRANGED OF SAID GROOVES, AN INTERMEDIATE REINFORCING BAR ON SAID RECEPTACLE, SAID INTERMEDIATE BAR TRANSVERSELY ARRANGED OF SAID GROOVES, SAID INTERMEDIATE BAR HAVING HOLES COAXIAL WITH EACH ONE OF SAID ELONGATED GROOVES, AT LEAST TWO PINS PROTRUDING FROM SAID BOTTOM BAR, A FOOT BAR ON SAID CONTAINER, SAID FOOT BAR HAVING AT LEAST TWO HOLES FOR RECEIVING SAID PINS, TWO SHELLS ON SAID FOOT BAR, SAID SHELLS HAVING RIMS, SAID SHELLS HAVING FLEXIBLE TRANSITIONS FLEXIBLY CONNECTED WITH SAID FOOT BAR, SAID SHELLS FITTING WITH SAID RIMS INTO ONE ANOTHER, FORMING SAID BOX-SHAPED CONTAINER SURROUNDING SAID RECEPTACLE, AND A DOVE-TAIL SHAPED HANDLE ON TOP OF EACH ONE OF SAID SHELLS. 